Spring crop insurance deadline nears

SPRINGFIELD — Producers of spring-planted crops interested in buying crop insurance, or making a change to an existing policy, can do so until the March 15 sales closing date.

Brian Frieden, director of USDA Risk Management Agency’s Springfield Regional Office, urges producers to contact a crop insurance agent for details. Agents can help producers determine what policy works best for their operation and review a current policyholders’ existing coverage to ensure the policy meets their needs.

Crop insurance can protect producers from natural disasters like last year’s drought, which affected crop yields across the country. Producers have a number of coverage choices, including yield coverage, revenue protection and group policies. Revenue protection safeguards a producer from yield losses and price movement. Group policies offer coverage based on county yield data and are available in most counties.

The Risk Management Agency is the part of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the federal crop insurance program. Private insurance companies, approved by the Risk Management Agency, sell and service the policies.

These companies have crop insurance agents who work with producers directly. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers or on the RMA web site at: http://www.rma.usda.gov/tools/agent.html.